So i decided to get out to the clinch before the UT game yesterday (GO VOLS) and did some fishing with my new 2wt

i noticed several things for the 1st time:
-The trout seemed to be scared off by my little foam indicator. Is this just me or are these trout getting wise? Im sure they have seen everything i threw at them 100 time.

-To combat this i used a dry fly with a dropper and this seemed to help quite a bit. That being said i never got a fish to rise to my Adams at all with the dropper on it though i did have fish rising to it before hand. So how do you all tie your dropper? eye to eye or eye to shank? I went eye to eye.

-The clinch was full of bait fishermen like i have never scene....only saw 2 other fly fishermen, this worried me as each of these bait fishermen had a full stringer (thought i could not tell if there were over 7) Any bode else noticing this trend?

Could you get that 2wt to cast with any distance? This would greatly reduce your chances of catching fish. You need to get that fly out there and above the pool your are targeting. I use wool for an indicator and it works like a Timex Watch. However; most of my casts are in the range of 50-60 feet and this allows me to not spook the fish with my movement. I use a 6wt pretty much 90% of the time. You have to target the fish on the Clinch! Casting blindly is hit or miss and is best done while drifting the river-I still target the pools I want. Focus on water movement and deep pools.

In my experience it isn't the indicator which is spooking fish, and much more so the line laying down on the water. The best way to dodge this is to never and I mean never fish upstream unless you get wind or off color water. I have a buddy who swears fish spook from indicators, but after years upon years of watching clients fish indicators of all sizes and types I am convinced it has little effect.

I never fish dry/dropper rigs, don't have issues with how others fish, but they just aren't for me.

I will agree to Clinch fish have been extremely edgy this year, I cannot decide why they are spookier then normal, but it has been this way all season. I am guessing it is due to the extended low water periods and they just got edgy and stayed edgy. A long run of continuous water flows might help.

In my experience it isn't the indicator which is spooking fish, and much more so the line laying down on the water. The best way to dodge this is to never and I mean never fish upstream unless you get wind or off color water. I have a buddy who swears fish spook from indicators, but after years upon years of watching clients fish indicators of all sizes and types I am convinced it has little effect.

I never fish dry/dropper rigs, don't have issues with how others fish, but they just aren't for me.

I will agree to Clinch fish have been extremely edgy this year, I cannot decide why they are spookier then normal, but it has been this way all season. I am guessing it is due to the extended low water periods and they just got edgy and stayed edgy. A long run of continuous water flows might help.

I never fish dry/dropper rigs, don't have issues with how others fish, but they just aren't for me.

I feel the same way. It usually reduces the effectiveness of both flies in one way or another - in my opinion....

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I will agree to Clinch fish have been extremely edgy this year, I cannot decide why they are spookier then normal, but it has been this way all season. I am guessing it is due to the extended low water periods and they just got edgy and stayed edgy. A long run of continuous water flows might help.

I am a firm believer that strike indicators can put fish down. When I was not fishing deep water over 6 feet, I would decrease the size of my indicator to an absolute minimum. I also would look for indicators in greens or browns and I noticed an absolute difference. I have seen large fish move away from a light colored strike indicator and then caught that same fish when I changed to a dark chocolate indicator.

Might I suggest you get some green or brown sharpies and mark all but the upper surface one of those colors and give it a try.

As others have posted if you are not casting far enough or are casting over the fish, these suggestions will not be of much or any help.

Been fishing it for a long time, and I learn something new most everytime I go!

COunt me in on this as well, a lifetime of fishing the river and there are days it makes me scratch my head and wonder what in the **** I am missing.

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Originally Posted by MadisonBoats

I wonder if it relates to some kind of increase of predatory birds?

I think the extended low flows early caused the fish to bunch up in deeper areas, and with more of them in a "wad" the more likely one will spook and spook all the rest. I never seen the clinch fish pod up like they have this year, and wish they would spread out a little, as it might help the spookiness.